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Washington Post's Privacy Tip: Stop Using Chrome, Delete Meta Apps (and Yandex)

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Re: Washington Post's Privacy Tip: Stop Using Chrome, Delete Meta Apps (and Yandex)

#251

Post by adolph »

capyba wrote: post #162

I don’t know anyone that works at Meta, so I’m hoping that someone here could answer this for me- What makes employees there feel good (or at least okay) about doing stuff like this? You're spying on people, no? Surveilling ordinary people, not enemy combatants or foreign militaries? Perhaps a friend of a friend or even a family member? This kind of thing is so creepy and disturbing to me, not that it’s anything new…

> What makes employees there feel good (or at least okay) about doing stuff like this?

Would someone explain in plain language what is wrong with an app listening on a port for messages from the browser? It seems like a helpful asynchronous method to maintain state between browser and app.

Re: Washington Post's Privacy Tip: Stop Using Chrome, Delete Meta Apps (and Yandex)

#253

Post by Chris2048 »

whstl wrote: post #174
capyba wrote: post #162

I don’t know anyone that works at Meta, so I’m hoping that someone here could answer this for me- What makes employees there feel good (or at least okay) about doing stuff like this? You're spying on people, no? Surveilling ordinary people, not enemy combatants or foreign militaries? Perhaps a friend of a friend or even a family member? This kind of thing is so creepy and disturbing to me, not that it’s anything new…

The sad reality is that this behavior gets normalized in the name of making money. For employees it gets normalized at the first signal that your livelihood might be affected if you don't comply. As someone who's privacy conscious, it's an uphill battle to convince co-workers to actually follow laws instead of trying to find loopholes. I've worked at places who collect every possible data point and distributes it wil…

> I know a German company requires you to "accept" data collection and processing in order to settle a debt.

Pretty sure this is illegal, and probably a liability e.g. if it came up in court.

Re: Washington Post's Privacy Tip: Stop Using Chrome, Delete Meta Apps (and Yandex)

#255

Post by Ylpertnodi »

HocusLocus wrote: post #202

It's CREEPY to imagine the Internet is under a mandate to protect your privacy. Don't be CREEPY. The EU cookie fiasco is just that. All of a sudden, your every day experience was derailed extremely in a way that 'broke' HTML standards and sites at first in hundreds of ways. All of a sudden sites that never did track users were forced to start tracking them -- in order to set the flag to suppress the harassing cookie…

The 'fiasco' is for your benefit. If you don't like the banners, get a blocker or don't visit sites that track you. It's a pissy thing to add, but do you also get upset with places that have "This area is under video surveillance for your [cough] security"?

Re: Washington Post's Privacy Tip: Stop Using Chrome, Delete Meta Apps (and Yandex)

#256

Post by wat10000 »

msgodel wrote: post #249
wat10000 wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Big companies are paperclip maximizers, for money instead of paperclips. It’s strange how many people can see the danger of a hypothetical nonhuman intelligence with a goal of making as many paperclips as possible, but not the danger of actual nonhuman intelligences with the goal of making as much money as possible.

In theory optimizing for money long term should align everyone's interests. The problem is that (for a number of reasons) public executives have far more incentive to be short sighted.

How’s that? I can see that being the case in a world where all interactions are voluntary, but that’s not reality.

Re: Washington Post's Privacy Tip: Stop Using Chrome, Delete Meta Apps (and Yandex)

#257

Post by grumpymuppet »

capyba wrote: post #162

I don’t know anyone that works at Meta, so I’m hoping that someone here could answer this for me- What makes employees there feel good (or at least okay) about doing stuff like this? You're spying on people, no? Surveilling ordinary people, not enemy combatants or foreign militaries? Perhaps a friend of a friend or even a family member? This kind of thing is so creepy and disturbing to me, not that it’s anything new…

I'm nearly certain it's the dopamine response of "solving problems" coupled with the fear of losing a paycheck.

Morality isn't a consideration.

Re: Washington Post's Privacy Tip: Stop Using Chrome, Delete Meta Apps (and Yandex)

#259

Post by haiku2077 »

everdrive wrote: post #118
kvdveer wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NoScript is indeed very effective at blocking tracking, but it also breaks a lot of websites. If that is an acceptable compromise, you could also try ditching the Internet altogether, as that not only blocks all online tracking, it also blocks a lot of fraud, misinformation and all kinds of harmful content.

Except for non-negotiables (eg: bill paying, government websites, etc.) a website that fully breaks when blocking js is just a worthless site which is not worth my time.

Anubis (https://anubis.techaro.lol) requires Javascript and is required to view some otherwise static websites now because AI scrapers are ruining the internet for small websites.

Re: Washington Post's Privacy Tip: Stop Using Chrome, Delete Meta Apps (and Yandex)

#260

Post by [deleted] »

whstl wrote: post #224
palmfacehn wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Generally employees put the responsibility on management. As everyone has a higher up they answer to, no one feels personally responsible. From the top down, the concerns of how things are actually implemented are often too abstract. Combine these dynamics with institutional echochambers and group-think. Employees just want to make it to the weekend. Execs want to hit their targets. Sales dept. needs their bonuses. T…

Not Meta but I once got yelled at not by a real manager, but by a PM because I said I wouldn't let the team do something shady without legal signing off. I'm in Europe so it was GDPR related. The PM tried shopping the task to other teams, but nobody took the bait after I raised it publicly, and both legal and the external law firm sided with me after about three months of delay. In the meantime I raised the topic of…

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